The US Navy's fast and robust Torpedo Boats achieved great successes, especially in the Pacific theatre of war. On 5th November 1943, PT167 was under way with a convoy from Cape Torokina towards the Treasury Islands. A sudden attack by 12 Japanese Torpedo Bombers was followed by vehement defensive action. After a low flying bomber had hit the radio mast on PT167, the boat received another heavy hit but no explosion followed.

During a succeeding attack by another bomber squadron the gunners on PT167 shot down an enemy aircraft. During an inspection of the boat after the battle a huge hole was discovered in the bow. An enemy torpedo had penetrated the bow above the waterline without exploding.

Limited to 5,000 pieces worldwide, Revell's nautical offering in the form of this PT167 Torpedo boat truly showcases the companies talent regarding crisp moulding and fitment of parts. Any boat fan would be proud to assemble this fine model.

In January 1937, when the keel for a new Royal Navy battleship was laid, a new vessel came into existence which with its concentration of 356 mm heavy artilleryin quadruple turrets took English shipbuilding in a totally new direction. In 1938, the ship was launched and named the King George V and in December 1940 she went into service as the first of five sister ships, to be followed in 1941 by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York and in 1942 by the Anson and the Howe.

In the following war years these ships formed the core of the battle fleet and were used in all theatres of war. The King George V had her baptism of fire duringthe pursuit and ultimate sinking of the Bismarck. She then served in the North Sea and the Mediterranean before going back to the shipyard in 1944. By the end of the war she had undertaken missions in the Pacific, often together with the US Navy. In 1958 the King George V was broken up.

The U-Boot type VII-C is the best known German submarine from World War II. It was built in large numbers and upgraded several times. This type represents the ultimate high point of the submarine era. Equipped with four bow and one stern torpedo the VII-C was a fearsome weapon. The task assigned to the German submarines was trade warfare.

They were designed to disrupt England's supply lines and innumerable sunken ships bear witness to that. The "Grey Wolves" of the Atlantic made war on escort convoys and hunted in packs. Accustomed to success, however, the period from 1943 was devastating for the German submarines: the hunters became the hunted. New search equipment tracked the German submarines mercilessly and turned them into steel coffins for innumerable German submarine crews. The type VII-C submarine illustrates the rise and fall of German submarine warfare.

Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for the German Kriegsmarine shortly before World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the unification of Germany in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched two and a half years later in February 1939.

Work was completed in August 1940, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Along with her sister ship Tirpitz, Bismarck was the largest battleship ever built by Germany, and one of the largest built by any European power.

In the course of the warship's short eight month career under its only commanding officer, Capt. Ernst Lindemann, Bismarck conducted only one offensive operation, in May 1941, codenamed Rheinübung. The ship, along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was to break into the Atlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to Great Britain. The two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia, however, and British naval units were deployed to block their route. At the Battle of Denmark Strait, Bismarck engaged and destroyed the battlecruiser HMS Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy, and forced the battleship HMS Prince of Wales to retreat with heavy damage, although Bismarck herself was hit three times and suffered an oil leak from a ruptured tank.

The destruction of Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy involving dozens of warships. Two days later, while heading for the relative safety of occupied France, Bismarck was attacked by Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal; one hit was scored that jammed the battleship's steering gear, rendering her unsteerable. The following morning, Bismarck was destroyed by a pair of British battleships. The cause of her sinking is disputed: some in the Royal Navy claim that torpedoes fired by the cruiser HMS Dorsetshire administered the fatal blow, while German survivors argue that they scuttled the ship. In June 1989, Robert Ballard discovered the wreck. Several other expeditions surveyed the remains seeking to document the ship's condition and to determine what sank her.

The nuclear-powered Enterprise is the first aircraft carrier of its kind and counts among the largest vessels ever built. The gigantic aircraft was put into service on 25.11.1961. Eight watercooled reactors generate a total power output of 300,000 HP with which the vessels achieves an average speed of 35 knots. She displaces 75,700 tons.

The aircraft deck measures 76.8 m in width. On average there are 414 officers and 4260 crew on board. Since her nuclear power system makes the Enterprise independent of external supplies, it was possible to provide large fuel depots for the ship's aircraft. The largest and most modern aircraft of the US Navy can be operated from the Enterprise.

The heavy cruiser Blücher was launched in Kiel on 8.6.1937 and went into service on 20.9.1939 as the type ship of the Admiral Hipper Class. With a maximum displacement of 18,700 tons and a length of 202.8 m, she carried a crew of approx. 1,380. After a brief trial period the Blücher capsized on her first mission during the invasion of Norway, when on 9.

4.1940 in the Oslo Fjord she was disabled by numerous shells and then hit by 2 torpedos.

The heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, max. displacement 18.750 tons, was commissioned on 1.8.1940 at the Krupp Germaniawerft in Kiel. After having sunk the Hood in collaboration with the Bismarck, it made a successful breakthrough from Brest on 11.2.1942. Repaired after a torpedo had blown her stern on23.2.1942 was deployed to shell advancing Russian troop concentrations along the Baltic coast.

At the end of the War, she was handed over to US-Navy, and she sunk on 22.12.1946 after the atomic bomb tests at Bikini atoll.

The U-99 was one of the best known and most dreaded German U-Boats of World War2. Under the command of Lieutenant Otto Kretschmer she patroled the shipping lanes of the North Atlantic searching for enemy vessels. The U-Boat's Atlantic prowling came to an abrupt end on 17 March 1941 when she was spotted and sunk by the British destroyer "Walker".

The "Graf Zeppelin" was the one and only German aircraft carrier, however it was never completed or used. As the sole German vessel in this class it deserves a special place. On 16.11.1935 the German naval high command issued an order for it to be built by the "Deutsche Werke Kiel AG". It was to by crewed by a company of 1720 and carry 110 aircraft.

Water displacement : 27,750 tonnes. It was launched on 8.12.1939. However by 1939 doubts had already arisen about its capabilities. In April 1940 construction work was halted and in July the "Graf Zeppelin" was towed to Gotenhafen and following a general stoppage of shipbuilding in April 1943 it was taken to Stettin. On 25.4.1945 the G.Z. was sunk at its berth by a demolition squad, however in March 1947, it was raised by the Soviet navy and later that June it was finally sunk by torpedos.